The present invention relates to towed vechicle electrical connections, and more particularly to devices for anchoring connector components to a vehicle for facilitating selective coupling to another vehicle.
Trailer electrical connections range from the use of safety pins piercing wiring insulation of a towing vehicle and pigtail leads extending from the towed vehicle to custom mounting of a connector socket to vehicle structure such as a bumper for receiving a cable plug of the trailer, the socket being wired through a cable and harness connector to an existing connector of the vehicle wiring harness. In some cases, a connector pair of the vehicle harness is disconnected and the cable to the socket has counterparts of the connector pair that make substitute connections therebetween. Unfortunately, vehicle supporting structures such as bumpers are not standardized, nor are the connector sockets and plugs that complete the electrical path to the trailer. In fact, configurations of from four to seven pins in various sizes and geometric arrangements are in common use. This is because four moderately sized pins are sufficient for connection to most utility trailers (left turn, right turn, tail-marker, and ground), yet additional and larger pins are required for electrical trailer brakes and more pins are needed for accessory wiring that is commonly used in travel trailers.
As a result of the above, the art of making electrical connections between towed and towing vehicles is poorly developed, in that vehicle manufacturers that have control of supporting structure for electrical connections typically provide optional sockets in a single minimal configuration (four-pin in-line array). Aftermarket vendors of connectors in the various configurations merely furnish connector plugs and sockets either bare or with pigtail leads, but without support brackets because of the wide variations in the vehicle structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,094 to Putnam discloses a connector bracket that can be clamped onto a trailer hitch bar of rectangular cross-section. The bracket includes a hook-shaped plate having a U-shaped portion, one downwardly extending leg of which is elongated and having an opening for mounting a connector, and a securing device extending from proximate a lower extremity of the shorter leg to an intermediate location of the longer leg above the connector opening. The bracket is formed to fit top, front and rear surfaces of a rectangular tubular hitch mounting cross bar that is used in many trailer hitch installations. The securing device, disclosed as a pair of threaded fasteners, extends along a bottom surface of the cross bar. Although the disclosure of Putnam addresses some of the problems of the prior art, the bracket is not entirely satisfactory. For example:
1. The bracket has limited application, being formed to fit a singular cross bar rectangular section, whereas several sizes ranging from 2 inches square to approximately 3.5 inches square are commonly used;
2. The bracket is subject to damage in that the relatively weak longer leg and the connector socket necessarily projects below the cross bar where it can be struck by obstacles passing beneath the vehicle; and
3. The bracket is difficult to use in that it is somewhat difficult to reach, and it may need to be grasped and stabilized by hand to prevent bending while engaging or disengaging the trailer connector plug.
Thus there is a need for a trailer connector mount that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.